FanSided

3 ways the Mets have proven they won the offseason

By Akshay Krishnan |
San Francisco Giants v New York Mets - Game One
San Francisco Giants v New York Mets - Game One / Dustin Satloff/GettyImages
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The New York Mets have hit their stride. After taking 3 out of 4 against the Giants this week, the Mets find themselves at the top of the NL East with a 10-4 record. Emerging from the dark cloud of 2021, the Mets have the best record in baseball through 2 weeks.

There's been no shortage of praise to throw around, whether it's Francisco Lindor and his team-high 4 HRs or Carlos Carrasco's resurgence as a mainstay in the rotation after a lost 2021 season. Coming off a dissapointing 77-85 season, the team made a flurry of moves to reshape the roster as well as the coaching staff and front office. Needless to say, the team has had a major facelift.

Heading into the weekend, let's take a closer look at 3 of these reasons the Mets find themselves in such a optomistic position.

The new-look Mets outfield

Last season was a mess all around, but a glaring issue that stood out was the lack of production from the outfield room. The starting trio of Dominic Smith, Brandon Nimmo, and Michael Conforto had massive issues at the plate as a collective unit. They only were able to combine for 33 HRs last season, and the defense of Dominic Smith in particular was questionable in LF. Fast-forward to the off-season, and the Mets wasted no time in addressing the matter.

After allowing Michael Conforto to walk in free agency, the Mets went after a big name to replace him. They inked a deal with former Pirates all-star Starling Marte, giving themselves an elite defender in the OF who can still get on base at an elite level. Just last season, he finished with a .310 average playing for the Marlins and Athletics. So far, Marte has been exactly what the Mets have asked for despite playing in unfarmiliar territory in RF. He has been well worth the $78 million dollar price tag.

With the team still needing to find a starting-caliber LF, team went after and signed another former Athletic in Mark Canha. Canha was often overshadowed by his all-star teammates Matt Olson and Matt Chapman, but is a good player in his own right. With the Mets, Canha has been off to a sizzling start at the dish. His team-high .379 BA is evidence enough of his contributions to the team thus far, and he's been rock solid in LF as well.

San Francisco Giants v New York Mets - Game Two
San Francisco Giants v New York Mets - Game Two / Dustin Satloff/GettyImages

The rotation gets a boost

The Mets needed to acquire 2 high-quality starters, especially with Stroman leaving. Luckily for them, there just so happened to be a future Hall of Famer sitting on the open market: Max Scherzer. The man they call Mad Max, Scherzer signed a massive 3 year $130 million dollar deal to become arguably the best number 2 starter in all of baseball. He has been vital thus far this season, and is coming off his best performance as a Met. He struck out 10 batters in 7 innings to propel the Mets to a win over the Giants, with just one earned run to his name. The Mets wouldn't only look in free agency to solve the issue though.

On March 12th of this year, the Mets sent pitching prospects J.T. Ginn and Adam Oller to the Oakland Athletics in exchange for SP Chris Bassitt. Bassitt was an named to his first all-star team last season, and has a career 3.44 ERA. The 33 year old righty has been far more than just a great pitcher thus far, as he has already been seen mentoring young arms like Tylor Megill and David Peterson. That being said, he has been excellent on the mound as well and has already struck out 20 batters through his first 3 starts. His mentorship and consistency will continue to be important to the success of the pitching staff.

The 2 pitchers may be vastly different in terms of their styles, but both have been major success stories this season.

New York Mets v Washington Nationals
New York Mets v Washington Nationals / Mitchell Layton/GettyImages

A new era of leadership

Since Terry Collins resigned in 2017, the Mets track record of manegerial hires have been interesting to say the least. The team has gone through Mickey Callaway and Luis Rojas the past 4 seasons. The big theme here is that both Callaway and Rojas were first time managers, and were unable to take teams that were expected to make the playoffs over the hump. With experience desperately needed, enter 65 year old Buck Showalter.

Showalter has been around the game as a manager since 1992, and has a wealth of knowledge to provide. In his first 14 games as manager of the Mets, Buck has already shown his intelligence in terms of the game of baseball. There has already been a dramatic shift in philosphiy, and the team's approach to the game is more reliant on the mental side. One play in particular displays this, and that was when J.D. Davis stole 2nd on an appeal play. The Diamondbacks wanted to challenge whether Dominic Smith left 3rd base early on his tag up, but Oliver Perez didn't realize the moment he stepped off the bag and turned to 2nd, the play was no longer appealable.

Perez, who was once a Met and has been around the MLB for 20 seasons, stood in visible confusion as J.D. Davis trotted to 2nd base. It was the easisest stolen base of Davis's life and he would go on to credit his manager in the post-game press confrence.

The Mets are buying into Buck's philosiphy, and it has been paying major dividens so far. This is only a glimpse of what things could be in the future with Buck under the helm.

Next. 2 Mets who have redeemed themselves, 1 who hasn't. dark

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